Wow! Congrats to the person that caught it. A Michigan fish that we should all be proud of. It's a shame that the fish didn't make it to swim for another day but we all know that this is a possibility when ever we jump in the boat. I personally have not experienced a fish dying at boatside, although I'm sure a few have struggled or even died from delayed mortality.
We should ask ourselves if any of the more experienced anglers in our club had caught it and it didn't make it for what ever reason would we "slam" them as well? If Pete, Duke, Will, Chad, Kingfisher, Chris, Mike, myself, etc…etc…, insert almost any member name you want, had caught this fish and it didn't make it I would think that most people in our club would be high fiving, raising a glass or bottle and congratulating the angler, knowing that they did their best to keep it alive. If it was a "newbie" or less experienced club member there might be a little more concern regarding fish handling education.
Since we may not know the angler in question are we to assume that the angler is "sandbagging" and didn't do the right thing to keep the fish alive. Could very well be but I hope that this angler did whatever he could.
"Chris Barton" said:
WOW!!!! I don’t know if I can handle all of those “what if’s” and “maybe’s”. I guess it is always possible the “perfect storm” could have happened.
A few things come to mind…
1. This isn't just a fish, this is a BIG fish and dealing with them isn't like dealing with any other fish.Thanks for the insight Will.
3. Maybe this fish was hooked in a way that made it difficult to unhook and/or maybe there was some damage. I've had fish die in my net and how they were handled didn't make any difference.
Sure, we have all have had fish that were tough to unhook. How many fish have you had die in your net? Since you like to tell everyone how many fish you catch, tell us how many have died in your net, we can all do the math and figure out how rare this really is.
I'm not going to argue about this or start getting personal. I just wanted to add some perspective that these fish, most times, are tough but there are times when it just doesn't work out for the fish.
I wasn't going to post this photo yesterday but it's been forwarded to me three times this morning so I guess you'll see it sooner or later.
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Ok, I'm cooled off now, and after reading up on Kyle, I totally understand. Great job done by a dedicated angler. I guess my first thought was "purposeful killing" because that's what you hear so much about in the north. I'm just also really bummed because we have such limited information on this fish since she didn't have a transmitter for very long. Maybe we should invite this guy to our banquet with the fish, so we can all say our peace to her. [smilie=rip.gif]
I was not angry, sad yes for the fact that I wish they could have tracked her for another year or two. But they did track her for 4 or 5 months. How many times a day did they check on her. Where did she go everyday? (any where she wanted to go) How old is she? She spawned, so hopefully her genes are passed on. I took the photo of "Pinkie" with me toWI., showed it to alot of people. They were amazed and alot said " I didn't know MI. had Muskies". When people go muskie fishing where do they go, WI.,MN.,ONT., upper state NY., not MI. When you go to these place, what do you see. Muskie bar, Muskie resturant, Muskie resort, Muskie lake this and that. It's a business and they know how to use and Protect it. When is this state going to wake up and get with the program, lord know this state could use the revenue!! Also last Sat at Hudson someone asked me what a legal muskie is now. I said state wide 42". They said they liked it better when it was 36", I said I wished it was 50" state wide. He asked me why. I said it take a long time for them to grow and he agreed with me! Hopefully this will give a shot in the arm to the GLM program and the lawmakers will wake up and figure out this will generate money for the state. Use it, but Protect it.
"Steve S" said:
How many times a day did they check on her. Where did she go everyday? (any where she wanted to go) How old is she?
Most of this should probably wait until John is done with his study… but I'll give some general information.
She hadn't been located for three weeks before the catch but she was within the same general area she spent most of the year. The angler was not aware this fish was in the study and as such was not aware of her home range.
Age? I'll let everyone make a guess on that. What do you think?
"Duke" said:
I wonder if Ramsell will file a complaint against this fish because the weight of the transmitter was not deducted from its record weight??? I think he said there is actually a Wisconsin fish that should be the rightful Michigan state record fish😀I have no clue on the age, I am going to guess 19.
I've already talked to Larry about this fish, there aren't going to be any complaints. I think you mean Detloff would think there's a WI fish that should be the record…
"Hamilton Reef" said:
I would expect the DNR Charlevoix biologist took scales and DNA sample from the fish at time of verification inspection.
They already had all the samples they needed from her capture this spring. She was aged using a dorsal spine and you can see where she was clipped in the photos on Field and Stream.
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